About Digital Commonwealth

Digital Commonwealth is a statewide program that provides free digitization services, digital preservation, and online access to cultural heritage materials from Massachusetts institutions. The program is operated by the Boston Public Library as part of its Library for the Commonwealth services. This website brings together digitized materials from hundreds of libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives across the state.

Established in 2005 and continuously developed since then, Digital Commonwealth serves researchers, students, educators, and the general public by making diverse historical resources freely accessible to all. The collections include photographs, manuscripts, books, audio recordings, maps, postcards, and other historical artifacts from Massachusetts institutions.

Massachusetts cultural institutions can participate in Digital Commonwealth in two ways:

• Apply for free digitization services from the Boston Public Library. Our team provides consultations and site visits to help assess which collections are best suited for digitization.
• Have your existing digital collections harvested for inclusion in the Digital Commonwealth repository, making them discoverable alongside materials from hundreds of institutions across the state.

For more information about participating, please visit: https://www.bpl.org/digitization/.